Francisco Vargas vs Rod Salka Betting Odds and Prediction

Once-beaten former WBC Super Featherweight Champion Francisco Vargas of Mexico is back in the ring this Thursday, April 12th when he takes on Rod Salka of Bunola, Pennsylvania. The 10-round bout takes place at the Fantasy Springs Casino in Indio, California and can be seen live in the U.S. on ESPN 2 and ESPN Deportes. Vargas last fought back in December when beat Stephen Smith by a technical decision in the middle of the ninth round after Smith couldn’t continue due to a serious ear injury caused by an accidental head butt. Salka was last in the ring in September when he beat Jayro Duran by an eight-round unanimous decision.

Vargas vs Salka Betting Odds

My Pick

The 33-year-old Vargas enters the contest with a record of 24-1-2 with 17 Kos. His only loss came in January of 2017 when he was stopped by Miguel Berchelt in the 11th round of a classic to lose his title. In addition, his 20-fight winning streak was snapped in the summer of 2016 when he drew with Orlando Salido. Vargas stands 5-feet-8-inches tall and has a 70-inch reach. He’s well known to boxing fans for his classic slugfests against both Berchelt and Salido as well as Takashi Miura of Japan in 2015.

Vargas is a former Olympian who fought in the 2008 Games in Beijing, China and turned pro in 2010. He’s gone 134 rounds since then and has a knockout ratio of 63 per cent. His other draw was a four-round affair against Byron Gonzalez in 2010 in his fourth pro outing. Vargas is comfortable using his boxing skills or going toe-to-toe and he’s pretty effective no matter which style he chooses to use. He stopped Juan Manuel Lopez in the third round in 2014 and has also beaten Jerry Belmontes, Will Tomlinson and Abner Cotto.

It looks like the Miura and Salido fights sapped some energy out of Vargas when he fought Berchelt, but it was a close, competitive fight until it was stopped. Vargas has an exciting style and a solid chin even though he was stopped by Berchelt. His comeback bout against Smith was also entertaining with Vargas in control of the proceedings most of the way until it was halted. He needs to keep his career rolling with a win over the likes of Salka if he hopes to earn another world title shot.

Salka is now 35 years old and will climb into the ring with a record of 24-4 along with just four knockouts. However, he’s been stopped just once so has a pretty solid chin. He’s 5-feet-7-inches tall with a 67-inch reach so has a one-inch height and three-inch reach disadvantage to Vargas. Salka turned pro back in 2007 after a 50-fight amateur career and has boxed 186 rounds since then. He doesn’t have much at all in the way of power with a current knockouts ratio of just 14 per cent. His best wins have been against Emmanuel Lucero and Monty Meza Clay.

Salka has fought much of his career as a 135 lb lightweight so will actually be coming down in weight. His four losses have been to Guillermo Sanchez by eight-round unanimous decision in 2010, to Dorin Spivey by 10-round majority decision in 2012, to Ricardo Alvarez by 10-round majority decision in 2013 and by second round knockout to former world champion Danny Garcia in 2014. Salka will be taking as big leap up in class again with Vargas. He’s pretty mobile with good defensive skills and likes to move in and land his shots and then quickly get out of harm’s way.

Prediction…

If Vargas takes this fight too lightly and looks upon it as an exhibition match he could be in for a shock. Salka doesn’t have the power to hurt him, but he could win enough rounds to make things interesting. However, the more likely scenario will see Vargas walking through Salka’s punches and stop him along the way or take a comfortable decision. Vargas is in a different class than Salka and should be too fast and strong for him with his aggressive and relentless punching style.